June 26, 2003 @ 9:00 pm
Blu Cantrell - Bittersweet (Arista)
Fellas, don’t mess with Blu Cantrell.
Fellas, don’t mess with Blu Cantrell. She hit pay dirt on her first single, “Hit ’Em Up Style (Oops!),” advising jilted ladies to clean out their trifling men’s pocketbooks. That sassy persona returns on her sophomore album, Bittersweet, with brazen tunes like “I Did That” and “Unhappy” matching her brassy, supple alto. Though her voice lacks distinctive personality, she bowls you over with jazzy vocal licks and a pyrotechnical intensity that’s pure Holiness church. But Cantrell can’t seem to decide if she wants to be a dance diva or a torch siren. Club tracks like “Make Me Wanna Scream” are propelled by erotically charged dancehall and Latin rhythms, but they seem generic compared to her stunning ballads. “Sleep in da Middle” is an immaculately crafted slow jam that showcases every inch of Cantrell’s formidable voice. It’s buoyed by a moving lyric of independence: “I’d rather sleep in the middle / Alone and not hurting over you / That’s better than sleeping on my side / Crying at night / Silently watching you sleep.” Instead of maxing out her man’s credit cards, it sounds like she’s on her way to real liberation.
Article tags: Blu, Cantrell, Bittersweet, Arista
Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/music/revolutions/2003/06/blu_cantrell_bittersweet_arista/
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